Teams are planning to minimize their running in FP3 in Australia this weekend in order to ensure that their cars are fit to take part in qualifying.

It’s been obvious for some weeks that the length of time required to change components on the 2014 cars means that anyone hitting a serious problem in the Saturday practice would not be able to ready their car for qualifying. As a result, some teams will try to do all of their work on Friday and perhaps make only a token appearance for an installation lap on Saturday. A lack of action on track won’t be good news for fans.

Given the poor reliability suffered by teams in testing, there has been a lot of speculation about how many cars might finish in Australia this weekend, with incidents potentially adding to the attrition rate.

When asked today, FIA race director Charlie Whiting said that he will stop the race if there are no cars left running.

Sebastian Vettel insists that he hasn’t given up hope of challenging for a fifth world championship this year – and believes that Red Bull still has enough time to catch up after its bad start in testing.

“It’s a long year,” he said today. “Our pre-season testing, our preparation, hasn’t been ideal and, yeah, we’re probably not in the best position for this race, but I think it’s a different story when we think about the championship. There’s a long way to go. Two years back Fernando was on the grid with 1.5 seconds to pole position but he was very close to beating us to the title at the very last race. Anything can happen. That’s why this race is important, just as any other one. But there are a lot of races this year.

The field heads into turn 1 at Daytona International Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images)

For the first time in nearly 15 years, the overall winner in this weekend’s 62nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring won’t be an Audi, Peugeot or Porsche.

While the launch of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship has resulted in the elimination of the LMP1 class, it has opened up the floodgates for a mix of new manufacturers to make their mark on America’s oldest endurance race.

Chevrolet, Ford, Honda and Nissan are among the engine manufacturers in the new-look Prototype class that will be vying for top honors on Saturday (10 a.m. ET, Live! FOX Sports 1) in what will likely be the most competitive field in more than two decades.

A look at the special livery McLaren Mercedes will run in the Australian Grand Prix. (Photo: McLaren)

McLaren Mercedes has failed to find a title sponsor to replace the departed Vodafone, so this weekend in Australia, the team will run a special Mobil livery to celebrate a 20-year relationship with the American brand.

The team linked up at McLaren’s first race with Mercedes power in Australia in 1995.